


Let the Silence Find Us

by Hecate



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:20:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29363880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hecate/pseuds/Hecate
Summary: For a while, they are quiet, locked away from the world, locked away from each other. This, Faith knows, this is familiar. Two Slayers and not enough world and never the right words.
Relationships: Faith Lehane & Buffy Summers
Comments: 16
Kudos: 28
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Let the Silence Find Us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tielan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/gifts).



The rooms are crowded with girls, the little motel they found not big enough to take in all the Slayers, old and new. It's loud, excited chatter and pained curses filling the rooms, people fighting over beds and the snacks Dawn brought in.

Buffy isn't there.

Faith isn't surprised. 

She doesn't want to be around all these people either.

But she was their leader – for a while, for a moment – and if Buffy can't be there, Faith has to. It's not a lesson she ever wanted to learn.

But she did. So she stays.

She draws up room assignments, ignores the groans and complaints. Puts Dawn and Buffy in one room. Looks at all the other names, at the number of beds and couches and the size of the rooms. Closes her eyes for a brief moment before putting her own name next to Buffy's.

Even on paper, it looks strange to see them side by side.

She asks Giles and Willow to get more food. Tells Dawn to go through the TV channels and news websites to see what the world has to say about that Californian town that was swallowed by the Earth. Checks on the injured. Checks on the girls without scrapes and bruises as well, all chatter and laughter, too filled with adrenaline to rest any time soon now that they left the crater behind. 

For a moment, a few seconds, they remind her of Buffy and herself when they were younger and hadn't torn each other to pieces yet. High-fiving in a graveyard, dancing in the Bronx, the Chosen Two. It had felt, back then, like it could last longer than it did even though they never quite fit together.

They don't fit together now.

Still, Buffy threw her the scythe during the battle, and Faith held the line for her when Buffy couldn't. That means something.

She checks on Robin next, and she doesn't know what to say to him. She's empty, blank. All the need and insanity inside of her that pushed her into his arms are gone. She flat-lined, leveled out, and she doesn't know what to do with him. 

It's okay. 

He is silent, too. 

And then, she's done.

She's done, and she walks out of the motel with a tired wave. "Going for a smoke."

Dawn raises her eyebrows, throws her a bag of chips and two bottles of water. "Don't let her wallow for too long."

Faith doesn't reply. 

The parking lot is as crowded as the rooms of the hotel are. Faith wonders how many of the cars belong to people who fled Sunnydale while they fought for it, rats leaving a ship that has been doomed for decades. Most of them, probably. 

And then, between the rows of cars, she's angry. She's furious, and she wants to punch through windows, wants to kick against doors. She wants to scream until the honorable citizens of Sunnydale fill up the parking lot and apologize for everything they ignored and everything they let happen. 

It wouldn't change a thing.

Faith pushes it all away, the anger and the past, and walks to the school bus. It looks odd among its peers, a roadside attraction. An easy target calling out to thieves and monsters hiding behind the motel room doors and between the cars. 

She tries not to think about it, tries not to think of the days ahead. Driving around in a banged-up school bus filled with young girls is not a smart move. But she can come up with something else tomorrow.

Or maybe Giles will. Willow. Somebody else.

The door at the front is open, a dumb move. But there is a Slayer inside, so it doesn't really matter. She walks up the steps, stares into the dimness. The street lamps cast a cold light through the windows grimy with the dirt of the road and Sunnydale sinking away in the rear-view mirrors.

Buffy sits towards the rear of the bus, eyes closed, and Faith stands still for a moment and looks at her. There is a bruise on Buffy's cheek she hasn't noticed before and shadows under her eyes.

"I brought food," Faith finally says, holding up the chips.

Buffy opens her eyes and gives her a weak smile. She doesn't say anything when Faith walks towards her through the row of seats, remains silent when Faith sits down at the other side of the aisle. 

"These are shit but the vending machine is already empty. The mini-us got there first." Faith rips the bag open and fishes out some chips before pushing the bag at Buffy. Grins briefly when Buffy takes it. Throws a bottle of water at her without a warning. Not like either of them would need one.

Buffy catches the bottle without blinking and sets it down in the seat next to hers. Eats a few chips and frowns. "They really are shit."

Faith swallows a laugh and shrugs. "You could always go inside and threaten them into giving you their food. You are the Chosen One, Original Version."

Buffy looks at Faith, her face strange. Her lips are a bitten down line, her eyes are wide. And Faith knows she said something wrong, pushed and poked at the wrong parts. She almost apologizes. Almost asks if Buffy was okay. Doesn't.

For a while, they are quiet, locked away from the world, locked away from each other. This, Faith knows, this is familiar. Two Slayers and not enough world and never the right words.

"Do you think they will hate me?" Buffy finally asks, her voice rough, dry. "All these new Slayers Willow made?"

Faith swallows. Thinks of all the replies she should give, all the lies that could help Buffy. Maybe. For a while. But not for long enough. Answers carefully "Some of them."

"Yeah." A sigh, Buffy looking out of the window. "I thought so."

"Couldn't be helped," Faith says after a while. "We had a war to win."

"Yeah." A deep breath and Buffy turns back to her, shrugs. Laughs. "For a while there, it actually felt like a good idea."

"Because it was," Faith replies, and she is surprised by the anger in her voice.

Buffy looks surprised, too.

"There was no way for us to pull it off alone," Faith says. And for a moment, she is back in the chaos of the fight - vampires all around her, girls fighting for their lives and for the world.

Buffy grimaces. "Yeah, maybe."

Faith opens her water bottle, sips. Brushes some dirt from the seat next to her. Wonders if everything is okay with the girls in the motel but doesn't care as much as she probably should. Says, "The world was always too big for a Slayer to take on alone. That has always been bullshit."

"Two didn't work out that great either," Buffy answers.

Her words sting but Faith doesn't argue. Because Buffy is right. About this, she has always been right. And yet, it had been so easy to return to Sunnydale when Willow told her about the apocalypse brewing once more right under Buffy's feet.

"Sorry," Buffy goes on.

Faith shrugs. "Yeah, well..."

"I'm glad you are here," Buffy says.

And suddenly, she reaches across the aisle between their seats and touches Faith's hand. Withdraws quickly.

Faith swallows. "I'm glad, too."

The silence stretches out between them once more. Faith lets it. There is nothing she can do about it, about the silence or Buffy's guilt. Nothing but stay with Buffy. So she curls together on her seat, closes her eyes. Listens to Buffy breathe.

Promises herself that she will stay as long as Buffy needs.

And hopes that she gets to stay longer.


End file.
